Collapse in Cox's Bazar tourism industry. Hundreds of hotels have been closed

Cox's Bazar beach is considered as the biggest tourist spot in the country. The tourism industry here has collapsed due to the recent strikes. Hundreds of hotels have been closed.

It is known that there has been a serious collapse in the tourism business for the last 2 years. Those who do hotel business on rent are in the most trouble. One after another, hotels and restaurants are closing down in Cox's Bazar. Over a hundred hotels and restaurants in Cox's Bazar tourist area have been closed in the last 2 months. Currently, several other institutions are facing closure. In the face of further losses, the owners claimed that they were forced to close down their establishments. As a result, thousands of working people associated with these institutions have become unemployed.

Meanwhile, in order to escape the burden of the above losses, most of the hotels in Cox's Bazar have reduced the room rent incredibly. President of Cox's Bazar Tour Operators Association (Towak Bangladesh) SM Kibria Khan told reporters that there has been a severe downturn in Cox's Bazar tourism industry for the past 2 years. Where earlier at least 50 lakh tourists used to visit Cox's Bazar, it has come down to a fifth or less than 1 million. Those concerned said that there was no five star or four star quality hotel in Cox's Bazar even a century ago. There were only 3/4 hotels of three-star quality. All together there were 22/23 residential hotels and about 50 restaurants. There are currently more than 300 residential hotels and 300 restaurants, including 4 five-star quality, 2 four-star quality and more than 50 three-star quality residential hotels.

Tourism business has spread outside the city to other places including Ukhia, Teknaf, Ramu, Chakaria and Maheshkhali. Along with standard residential hotels, rest houses of various government offices have also been upgraded. Cox's Bazar's hotels, motels and resthouses have an annual capacity of about two and a half million tourists. Thousands of investors have invested in Cox's Bazar as the tourism business of Cox's Bazar has improved significantly. But for the last 2 years there has been a serious collapse in the tourism business. Those who do hotel business on rent are in the most trouble. Due to this, many unpleasant incidents are happening between the owner side and the tenant side.

In the face of further losses, hoteliers have reduced their room rents unprecedentedly for the current off-season. Currently, almost all hotels, including the popular 5-star Hotel Sea-Gal in Sagarpar, have announced a discount of 60 percent on room rent and most of the hotels of the Guest House Owners Association, including Hotel Diamond, have announced a discount of 70 percent.

Despite giving such a discount, the number of tourists in the hotels has decreased. As a reason for this, a local businessman said that the recent strike in the country has had a huge impact on the tourism industry. Especially the events that happened during the commemoration last two months have caused reluctance of tourists in Cox's Bazar. Jamaat-e-Islami strike stranded many tourists due to road blockades. Later they were rescued in different ways by government initiative. Not only those who are victims of such situations, but those who saw them, will they ever want to go to Cox's Bazar? Such a question of many. Due to which the local businessmen are losing business. Due to the political situation, many are worried about the future of this country's largest beach.